Deportation of undocumented Afghans from Pakistan

In October 2023, the government of Pakistan announced a plan to deport foreign nationals who either did not have valid visas or had overstayed their visa for more than one year. The mass deportations primarily affected those Afghans who had no legal documents to be in Pakistan. There were an estimated 3.8 million Afghans in Pakistan at the time the deportation order was announced, according to the United Nations, while Pakistani authorities believed the number to be as high as 4.4 million. Afghans accounted for 98% of the foreign nationals in Pakistan. By January 2025, over 813,300 individuals had been repatriated to Afghanistan.

The government cited increasing crime and violence, including suicide attacks, as the motivation for the mass deportations. However, outside observers noted there were likely also political reasons for the sudden deportations, for example that the Pakistan Army hoped to pressure the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan into a more cooperative foreign policy. Some also argued that Pakistan is instituting collective punishment against Afghans and Afghan immigrants were being scapegoated for Pakistan's economic crisis.